By the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, all countries had made and used writing pens. At that time, there were many names for pens: Wu called it Fa, Yan called it Fu, Chu called it Xing and Qin called it Pen.
After Qin Shihuang unified the whole country, "pen" became a definite name, which has been used ever since. According to legend, the brush we used was invented by Meng Tian, the general of Qin during the Warring States Period.
In 223 BC, Meng Kuo, the general of Qin State, led his troops to fight against Chu in Zhongshan area. The two sides fought fiercely and the war was protracted. In order to let the king of Qin know the situation on the battlefield in time, Meng Tian should write the situation report regularly and deliver it to the king of Qin.
At that time, people usually dipped bamboo slips in ink and then wrote on silk, which was very slow. Although Meng Tian is a military commander, he is full of literary talent. Writing the battle report with the pen mentioned above often makes him feel that it has affected his mind.
That pen is hard and hard. If you can't write a few words, you have to stop and dip. If you dip too much ink, it will drip straight down and stain very expensive silk. Meng Tianqian had the idea of changing the pen, and this time he wanted to write a lot of situation reports, and this desire became stronger and stronger.
During the war, Meng Tian liked to go hunting in the wild. One day, he shot some wild rabbits and returned to the barracks. Because the rabbit has been hit many times, it is very heavy in his hand. There is a rabbit's tail on the ground, and the blood is dragging winding traces on the ground. When Meng Tian saw it, he couldn't help but move: "Isn't it better to write with rabbit tail instead of ordinary pen?"
After returning to the barracks, Meng Tian immediately cut off a rabbit's tail and put it on a bamboo tube, trying to write with it, but the rabbit's hair was shiny and didn't absorb ink, and the words written on the silk were intermittent. Meng Tian tried several times to no avail, and a silk was wasted. In a rage, he threw the "rabbit brush" into the rock pit in front of the door.
Meng Tian was not willing to fail, so he took the time to consider other improvement methods. A few days passed, but he still didn't find a suitable method. On this day, he walked out of the barracks and wanted to breathe some fresh air. Walking through the rock pit, he saw the "rabbit brush" he had thrown away.
Meng Tian picked it up, pinched the rabbit hair with his fingers, and found that the rabbit hair was wet, and the color became whiter and softer. Meng Tian was greatly inspired and immediately ran back to the barracks to dip in ink. At this time, the rabbit's tail became very obedient, absorbed enough ink, wrote smoothly, and the font became round.
It turns out that the water in the rock pit contains calcium, and the rabbit hair becomes soft after being soaked in alkaline water. Because this pen is composed of a bamboo tube and rabbit hair, Meng Tian added a "bamboo" prefix to the popular pen name "Xing" at that time and called it "stupid" (now abbreviated as "pen").
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Famous pens in history:
1, Hu Bi
Tiger skin, Hui ink, Xuan paper and Duan inkstone are also called "Four Treasures of the Study", which is an important symbol of the long and splendid Chinese civilization. Hu Bi's hometown is Shanlian Town. There is a Bizumeng Temple in the local area. According to legend, Meng Tian, the general of Qin Shihuang, invented a brush with dead wood as the tube, deer hair as the column and wool as the quilt.
In 2006, Hu's pen-making skills were selected into the national intangible cultural heritage list.
2, Taicang brush
Taicang writing brush is a folk handicraft. The manufacturing technology of Taicang brush in Mengjin County, Luoyang City has a history of more than 300 years. The most brilliant time of Taicang brush was as the office pen of the official department. Because the makers of Taicang brush are mostly Pan, it is known as "South Lake North Pan".
Baidu Encyclopedia-Four Treasures of the Study